It is well known that light can be polarized. Unpolarized light, such as sunlight or light emitted from an ordinary incandescent light bulb, can become polarized light using light sensitive material such as tourmaline, or a polarized sheet or filter, such as filters manufactured by Polaroid Corporation. A polarized filter has complicated long molecules arranged with their axes parallel to a direction that is called the axis of the polarized filter. Such a polarized filter acts as a series of parallel slits to allow one orientation of polarization parallel to the axis of the polarized filter to pass through nearly undiminished, while blocking light with perpendicular polarization almost completely.
Unpolarized light consists of light with random directions of polarization. Each of these polarization directions can be divided into components along two mutually perpendicular directions. Thus, an unpolarized light beam can be thought of as two polarized beams of equal magnitude perpendicular to one another. When the unpolarized light beam strikes a first polarized filter or lens, the component with the polarization parallel to the axis of the polarized filter is allowed to pass. If a second polarized filter is positioned behind the first polarized filter at an orthogonal position, i.e., with their axes perpendicular to one another, the second polarized filter blocks the light component passed by the first polarized filter. This is because the axis of the second polarized filter is perpendicular to the polarization of the component of the light beam passed by the first filter. Therefore, the unpolarized light is entirely stopped.
Another means of producing polarized light from unpolarized light is by reflection. When light strikes a nonmetallic surface at any angle other than perpendicular, the reflected beam is polarized preferentially in the plane parallel to the surface. In other words, the component with polarization in the plane perpendicular to the surface is preferentially transmitted or absorbed. If an observer wears polarized sunglasses to receive the reflected beam, the observer can reduce glare to a minimum from that surface by rotating the polarized sunglasses or the surface so that the axis of the polarized sunglasses is perpendicular to the polarization of the reflected beam. If the light is reflected from the surface of a polarized sheet, a complete blackout by rotating either the polarized sunglasses or the polarized sheet can then be achieved.
Walking games utilizing optical instruments are also known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,111,313 issued to Parks teaches an optical illusion walking games in which a player attempts to walk along a line or trial shown on a rug, mat, etc. while looking through the wrong end of a binocular telescope. U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,529 issued to Nielson et al. discloses a mirror game in which a visual image alteration device contains a mirror held adjacent to the eyes to alter an image seen in the mirror by a person playing the game. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,279 issued to Foley et al. describes a team game in which the players compete with each other for spaces or loci without falling down.
None of the prior games utilize polarized film and spectacles as part of the game or use an optical instrument in cooperation with a facilitator to facilitate game playing.